Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KAMAZ have kept their man, and Pobeda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Vilgelm is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ruslan Aderikhin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Silvio Battaglia was the best thing in any of them.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Pobeda and Ural 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
7 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Pobeda asked and Ryazan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Battaglia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Zvezda had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Pobeda asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pobeda asked and Spartak Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$71.0K was the most the club would pay and CSKA Moscow were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vladislav Vilgelm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Daniil Scherbakov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Spartak Moscow is saying, and nobody at Pobeda is enjoying the guessing.
Adam Shikhanmatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Pobeda asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shikhamir Isaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Pobeda will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Baltika arrived with $840.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Magomed Nasibov has gone, the accounts have $840.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Battaglia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Baltika have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Magomed Nasibov. The answer from Pobeda has not changed — yet.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Silvio Battaglia has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shikhamir Isaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pobeda has been clear about where Shikhamir Isaev stands, which is more than many ever get.
Vitalijs Laizans was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Andrey Ivanteev is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ruslan Aderikhin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Pobeda have had the benefit of it.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Ruslan Aderikhin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Ruslan Aderikhin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Pobeda could ask drops and the wages Daniil Scherbakov can ask rise.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jahongir Abdumo'minov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Magomed Nasibov is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Pobeda is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Andrey Ivanteev is on it.
Adam Shikhanmatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Pobeda could ask drops and the wages Silvio Battaglia can ask rise.
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ruslan Aderikhin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Ruslan Aderikhin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pobeda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Magomed Nasibov is on it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
2 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Pobeda will have this month.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Pobeda asked and Dinamo Makhachkala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Pobeda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pobeda, and 2 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Ruslan Aderikhin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
That is the business done at Pobeda until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with Rodina is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Krisztian Szoboszlai trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Adam Shikhanmatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pobeda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pobeda, another week without a signature from Daniil Scherbakov.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Pobeda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Temirkhan Bitarov scored, was marked 6.52, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Pobeda asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout27 Jan 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Denis Bogatikov is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
25 goals and a season average of 7.29 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
Silvio Battaglia, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Silvio Battaglia has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
Magomed Nasibov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Temirkhan Bitarov provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7.82, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Pershin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ruslan Aderikhin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Magomed Nasibov provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Pobeda had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Pershin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pobeda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Pershin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jahongir Abdumo'minov is on it.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pobeda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
Igor Kuznetsov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Adam Shikhanmatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Pershin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Temirkhan Bitarov provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Igor Kuznetsov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pobeda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I watch every Pobeda game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kosmos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
CSKA Moscow go through and Pobeda go home, 0‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Ruslan Aderikhin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Position 6, 21 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ruslan Aderikhin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jahongir Abdumo'minov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Pobeda man
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings4 Nov 2030
Igor Kuznetsov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.19
A mark of 8.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Pobeda and Ural 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pobeda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.53. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings28 Oct 2030
Magomed Nasibov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Khimik held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Pobeda answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Adam Shikhanmatov is on it.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Pobeda game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kosmos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pobeda, another week without a signature from Vladislav Ignatenko.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Pobeda would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikhail Golubnichii trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
31 graduates, from a department now rated 4 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Ruslan Aderikhin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 8.37 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Igor Kuznetsov is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Pobeda will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. KDV Tomsk had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vladislav Ignatenko provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Igor Kuznetsov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Pobeda and Chelyabinsk 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ruslan Aderikhin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.35. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout23 Sep 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Pobeda this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“I watch every Pobeda game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kosmos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Pobeda have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Ruslan Aderikhin arrives at Pobeda with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Pobeda opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Regont Murati stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
That is the business done at Pobeda until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shikhamir Isaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pobeda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Pobeda will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pobeda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Harry Dawson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Pobeda is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shikhamir Isaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout2 Sep 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pobeda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Pobeda asked and Dinamo Bryansk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Magomed Nasibov. 1‑0 against Uralets-TS, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pobeda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Nart waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Milan Pjaca did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Shestakov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pobeda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Silvio Battaglia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Magomed Nasibov, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shikhamir Isaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pobeda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Pobeda asked and Amkar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Matvey Pershin had Pobeda level again within 3 minutes, and Akron 2 never got to play with a lead at all.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pobeda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Day 14 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Bryansk have kept their man, and Pobeda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Mikhail Golubnichii, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pobeda people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pobeda will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pobeda have done the hard part with Rubin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Harry Dawson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pobeda has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pobeda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Harry Dawson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jahongir Abdumo'minov and Pobeda agree another 1 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Baltika have kept their man, and Pobeda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pobeda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pobeda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pobeda asked and Chaika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Magomed Nasibov is on it.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pobeda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kosmos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Zarya Lugansk for Milan Pjaca was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Pobeda had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Amkar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pobeda asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The deal with Akron is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutHarry Dawson knocks on the manager's door
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Adam Shikhanmatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Magomed Nasibov is on it.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 May 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Temirkhan Bitarov signs something — a contract at Pobeda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Harry Dawson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jahongir Abdumo'minov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Temirkhan Bitarov is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Generalov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pobeda know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Adam Shikhanmatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mikhail Golubnichii and Pobeda agree another 1 years.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pobeda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jahongir Abdumo'minov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Magomed Nasibov signs something — a contract at Pobeda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not rotation. Harry Dawson has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Pobeda is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Vitalijs Laizans was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harry Dawson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Temirkhan Bitarov signs something — a contract at Pobeda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Temirkhan Bitarov is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Generalov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Adam Shikhanmatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pobeda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Harry Dawson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jahongir Abdumo'minov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Magomed Nasibov is on it.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Pobeda this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pobeda, another week without a signature from Shikhamir Isaev.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Pobeda would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Regont Murati has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Pobeda would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pobeda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jahongir Abdumo'minov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Generalov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pobeda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
Silvio Battaglia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marat Abulashov is on it.
Mikhail Golubnichii arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Regont Murati and Pobeda agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Pershin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Vitalijs Laizans and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harry Dawson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pobeda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jahongir Abdumo'minov and Pobeda agree another 1 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jahongir Abdumo'minov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pobeda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jahongir Abdumo'minov is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Temirkhan Bitarov signs something — a contract at Pobeda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pobeda people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rotor is saying, and nobody at Pobeda is enjoying the guessing.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Regont Murati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Legion for Nikita Generalov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deal with Dinamo Vladivostok is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Harry Dawson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Moscow have kept their man, and Pobeda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Asante was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dinamo Vladivostok waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spartak Tambov have kept their man, and Pobeda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Regont Murati falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
In brief
The dugoutRegont Murati asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pobeda people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.77 for the rest of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pobeda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Regont Murati falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Pobeda will try not to make too much of it.
Silvio Battaglia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Vladivostok have kept their man, and Pobeda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Spartak Moscow have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Pobeda pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Silvio Battaglia did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Regont Murati is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pobeda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Pobeda now know that too.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Danil Stepanov kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Chelyabinsk 2 will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Pobeda were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Zenit go through and Pobeda go home, 0‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Silvio Battaglia did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
0-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
The terraces14 Jan 2030
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Pobeda and Chelyabinsk 2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Dinamo Vladivostok, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Everybody at Pobeda saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Marked 6.85 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Asante was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Vitalijs Laizans is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Danil Stepanov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutMagomed Nasibov has become a man the manager trusts
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Harry Dawson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pobeda now.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Regont Murati is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pobeda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emmanuel Asante trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Harry Dawson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Regont Murati is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pobeda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Magomed Nasibov provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Silvio Battaglia did not need any: 8.12, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Danil Stepanov on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutMarat Abulashov has become a man the manager trusts
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Regont Murati falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Regont Murati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Magomed Nasibov obliged against Krasnodar. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Pobeda.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pobeda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Danil Stepanov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Regont Murati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Adam Shikhanmatov is on it.
The shirt still fits. Vladislav Ignatenko is back at Pobeda, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Regont Murati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marat Abulashov is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Ural 2 kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Pobeda will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Silvio Battaglia did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Harry Dawson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Half the programme played, position 8, 17 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Regont Murati is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Pobeda will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Regont Murati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Danil Stepanov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Adam Shikhanmatov is on it.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Asante was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Vitalijs Laizans and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Magomed Nasibov signs something — a contract at Pobeda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pobeda, another week without a signature from Artem Rogov.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
7.87, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Adam Shikhanmatov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Regont Murati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Pobeda will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Silvio Battaglia did not need any: 9.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adam Shikhanmatov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Regont Murati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Andrii Drekalo at his very best
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Dinamo Vladivostok, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pobeda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The shirt still fits. Shikhamir Isaev is back at Pobeda, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pobeda know it.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Regont Murati is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 18 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pobeda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pobeda told Alexey Belyanin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pobeda have done the hard part with Amkar, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Harry Dawson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Magomed Nasibov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pobeda have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Danil Stepanov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Denis Kaikov’s negotiating for him